The use of computer processors that are interconnected through networks has become ubiquitous. Processors are used for both personal and commercial scale business and for personal entertainment. Many of the uses require transfer of data files amongst users. As software and hardware technology have progressed, the size of image, video, music, data and other files have increased. Often the size of these files precludes transfer through attachment to an e-mail communication. Networked based file transfer processes where a server is used as an intermediary for storage and transfer to multiple users is a solution to this problem and is known in the art. However such known systems are generally cumbersome to use and require the user to work outside of their common operating environment and disrupt the normal flow of work on a personal computer. Typical systems are web based, where the user is required to open an internet access program such as Internet Explorer®, log into a secure system and select and upload files which then emails a uniform resource locator (URL) for the file location to the recipient. This interrupts the flow of work on the computer and forces the user to communicate with recipients without the use of their typical communication systems such as email or instant messaging. Often files that are to be transferred are located in multiple folders or locations either on the sender's local drive or even on remote storage locations. Current systems require moving the files first to a common folder location and then uploading or even uploading the files one at a time. File transfers for these large files are dependent upon the type of network connection, network traffic and may take a long time. Workflow is interrupted waiting for the upload to complete before resuming other work.
A system is needed to provide others immediate access to the unique resource location while allowing the transferring party to resume work on his computer. When transferring files to others it is often important to know that they have received the file. When transferring to a group of people it is often important to know when the entire group has accessed the transferred file(s). A system is needed to provide easy access to the status of the file transfer process and the recipient's retrieval attempts. There are times when the sender or receiver of shared files is working at his normal “home” location and there are times when they are working away from that location; perhaps not even using their own computer. A system is needed that allows access to files and management of the transfer process both when working locally and when working remotely. The management system and user interface for file transfer systems needs improvement.